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Tribute to Paul Calvert
Posted by () on Apr 02 2008
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In Memory of Paul Calvert 1949-2004 Roger Vickers Paul Thornton Calvert was born in March 1949, the son of John Calvert, a civil engineer and Barbara, a barrister.  He was educated at the Dragon School and Rugby where he excelled in all court games, especially rackets.  He later went up to the Trinity College, Cambridge to read natural sciences.  After what he described as an “enjoyable first year” in which he played hockey, rackets and real tennis (for which he was awarded a blue) he changed courses to read medicine, later going to Guy’s to complete his clinical studies.  After qualification and with house jobs behind him, he and Deborah, whom he had married as a medical student, went to Vancouver where he spent a year on rotation as a surgical resident.  As he later said, “I almost stayed in Canada and became a neurosurgeon”.

On return he worked for a while as a general surgical registrar before realising that he wanted to be an orthopaedic surgeon.  He went back to work as a Senior House Officer at the royal National Orthopaedic Hospital before being appointed to the RNOH rotation as a substantive registrar in training and subsequently as Senior Registrar.  Working initially for Lipman Kessel and later for Ian Bayley stimulated his interest in the shoulder, although at that time, in the early 1980s, shoulder surgery was still very much in its infancy.

After spending time as a Senior Surgical Officer at the RNOH and as Lecturer to the Professorial Unit, he was appointed in 1985 as Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon to the Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Huntingdon.  This was a “Short” post (named after the then Minister of Health).  Paul had hoped to be stimulated by working in a hospital where the consultant surgeons were much more ‘hands on’ at a ward level, but he missed the excitement of a teaching department and the challenges presented to him by the training of registrars.  At that time it was almost unheard of for a consultant to move posts after an appointment but Paul defied convention.  In 1986 he applied for and was appointed to a consultant post at St George’s Hospital, London with a commitment to oversee children’s orthopaedics and to develop a shoulder service.

The shoulder firm at St. George’s rapidly expanded under his leadership, partly owing to the development of arthroscopic shoulder surgery and shoulder replacement.  Reluctantly he dropped his paediatric orthopaedic commitment, although retaining his involvement with trauma and continuing to cover for general orthopaedic emergencies.

Paul’s interest in teaching and training was to occupy a considerable amount of time as he managed to combine his work on the Specialist Advisory Committee in Trauma and Orthopaedics with the role of Clinical Director of Orthopaedics as St George’s as well as Chairman of the Regional Specialist Training Committee.  He became chairman of the T&O SAC in 2000-2002, an onerous post, during which time he illness reached a critical phase.  Undeterred by that, he was able to organise the FRCS held in 2002 at St George’s with his usual flair and efficiency.

He was always available to help an individual with a training problem or to give help to a colleague with a difficult orthopaedic case.  His contribution to the training of young orthopaedic surgeons was recognised by his being appointed Trainer of the Year at the annual British Orthopaedic Trainee’s Association.

An outstanding clinical teacher both in the lecture theatre and by example in the operating theatre, he was also much in demand nationally as a teacher and examiner, but never neglected his work at St George’s.  He was clinical lead at St George’s in the Orthopaedic Department for over 10 years, in spite of taking on a three session commitment to the Shoulder Unit at the Royal National Hospital at Stanmore.  His ability to see to the heart of training problems and his considerable expertise in the understanding of manpower numbers was recognised by the British Orthopaedic Association.  On their behalf he negotiated with the Department of Health for the increase in the number of orthopaedic surgeons in training, pointing out persuasively that there would be a crisis in orthopaedic manpower unless the number of orthopaedic surgeons in training matched the likely number of consultant vacancies.

He published a number of important papers, notably on shoulder topics, including particularly that of habitual instability, and also on the consequences of the Clapham rail crash for which he had been the lead on-call surgeon, both on site at the track and also later back at the hospital.

The development of ocular melanoma and its effect on his eyesight fiver years ago did nothing to deter his work as both surgeon and teacher.  Disappointed by his loss of accurate three-dimensional vision which stopped him from playing real tennis, he was not deterred from riding his beloved motorcycle.  If anything, he took on even more work, enlarging the Orthopaedic Department at St George’s and more recently organising the appointment of a colleague to help him run the Shoulder Unit, particularly so that his patients would be cared for in continuity when his inevitable retirement came.  Although completely committed to the National Health Service, he had had a successful private practice, both at the Parkside Hospital, Wimbledon, and at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in St John’s Wood.  He was extremely happy at “John and Lizzies” and asked to be admitted to the Hospice Ward there shortly before he died.

Two years ago he was advised that it was likely that he would survive for only a few months.  Undeterred he underwent several courses of chemotherapy treatment without complaint and also entered into a course of immune therapy.  He continued to keep his deteriorating health from all but his closest colleagues, asking only that they let him know if his operative or clinical skills diminished.  It was only at Christmas 2003 that he took early retirement on medical grounds so that he might be able to spend a little time with Deborah and family.

Always extremely modest about his considerable achievements in orthopaedics he was pleased that the new Orthopaedic Operating Theatres that he had planned and commissioned at St George’s are now renamed the Paul Calvert theatres.

He died on 7 May leaving his wife and two children, his mother Lady Lowry and his sister, Dr Sandra Calvert, also a consultant at St George’s.

Last changed: Apr 02 2008 at 11:14 AM

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